Pathways toward educational achievement among African American and Puerto Rican adolescent mothers: reexamining the role of social support from families.

Although a majority of adolescent mothers are graduating from high school, the processes that enhance the educational attainment of adolescent mothers are not well understood. With a sample of 93 African American and Puerto Rican adolescent mothers, we assessed the effects of material support from family (i.e., child care assistance from grandmother and residence with grandmother) and emotional support from family over and above pre- and postpregnancy risk factors (i.e., maternal age at first birth, delayed grade placement before pregnancy, ethnicity, depressive symptoms, stressful life events, and repeat pregnancy) during the first year postpartum on educational attainment at 6 years postpartum. Significant contributors to the explained variance in educational attainment included: delayed grade placement before pregnancy, maternal age at first birth, depressive symptoms, emotional support from family, and residence with grandmother. Unexpectedly, higher perceived emotional support from family and living with grandmother predicted lower educational attainment. Post hoc analysis of qualitative data suggested reasons for these latter findings and point to the need to reconceptualize and broaden the elements of social support that constitute protective factors for adolescent mothers.

Itraconazole disposition after single oral and intravenous and multiple oral dosing in healthy cats.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the disposition of itraconazole in cats after single IV and oral dosing (as a solution or capsule) and multiple oral (capsule) dosing, and to establish bioavailability after oral administration of the solution. ANIMALS: 6 healthy cats for experiment 1 (E1), and 12 cats for experiment 2 (E2). PROCEDURE: For E1 (nonrandomized crossover design), each cat received a single dose of itraconazole solution (5 mg/kg of body weight) orally, and 1 month later, another dose i.v.. Blood samples were collected for 96 hours. For E2, each cat was given either 5 (group [G] 1) or 10 (G2) mg of itraconazole/kg (capsules) twice daily for 6 weeks. Samples were collected for 96 hours after the first and last dose. Itraconazole was detected by use of high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: For E1, itraconazole plasma drug concentration extrapolated to time zero (IV dose) was 5.2 +/- 1.4 micrograms/ml, and mean residence time (MRT) was 37 +/- 16 hours. For oral dosing, maximal itraconazole concentration was 1.69 +/- 0.864 micrograms/ml, MRT was 48 +/- 17 hours, and bioavailability was 78.8 +/- 28%. For the multiple oral dosing study, MRT (at last dose: 81.1 +/- 97.4 hours for G1, and 63.1 +/- 15.1 hours for G2) was shorter (P = 0.02) at first dose, compared with last dose, for both groups but did not differ between groups. Maximal concentration did not differ between groups at either time. Steady state was achieved at 14 to 21 days. All cats tolerated itraconazole with no evidence of adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS: The oral itraconazole solution is preferred to capsules; a 24-hour dosing interval should be sufficient; 10 mg/kg given daily should generate therapeutic concentrations in most cats; steady-state concentrations may take up to 3 weeks to achieve; and cats appear to tolerate itraconazole well.

Kinematic measurement from panned cinematography.

Traditional 2-D cinematography has used a stationary camera with its optical axis perpendicular to the plane of motion. This method has constrained the size of the object plane or has introduced potential errors from a small subject image size with large object field widths. The purpose of this study was to assess a panning technique that could overcome the inherent limitations of small object field widths, small object image sizes and limited movement samples. The proposed technique used a series of reference targets in the object field that provided the necessary scales and origin translations. A 102 m object field was panned. Comparisons between criterion distances and film measured distances for field widths of 46 m and 22 m resulted in absolute mean differences that were comparable to that of the traditional method.

Familial idiopathic megaduodenum.

Familial idiopathic megaduodenum is an uncommon condition which may be associated with other visceral abnormalities. Antineuronal antibody directed against guinea-pig skeletal muscle was found in one member of the family suffering from megaduodenum, in whom degeneration of the Auerbach's and Meissner's plexuses was documented. The significance of this finding is unclear. Management of the complaint is problematic. Despite shortcomings of surgical treatment, surgery nevertheless has an important role to play when medical treatments fail.